An estimated 500 Americans came home from...

CANCUN CAUTION.

September 21, 1989

- HOUSTON — CANCUN CAUTION. An estimated 500 Americans came home from Cancun, Mexico, last year with a severe form of dysentery that sent some of them to the hospital for a month, a U.S. government study has found. The disease was caused by a strain of bacteria, Shigella dysenteriae, almost identical to one that infected 500,000 people in Central America between 1969 and 1972, killing 20,000, said Dr. Julie Parsonnet of Stanford University. She said Americans should not cancel trips to the popular resort but should take the precautions recommended for all visitors to Mexico: Don't drink water or beverages with ice and avoid uncooked foods. She presented results of an investigation of the 1988 epidemic Tuesday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.